TUCSON, Ariz. & VENLO, the Netherlands—HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc. and QIAGEN Manchester Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of QIAGEN N.V., have expanded their master assay development, commercialization and manufacturing agreement with the launch of a second development program. The partners will apply HTG EdgeSeq technology to develop gene expression profiling assays for use with next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology in support of an unnamed pharma company’s therapeutic development and commercialization programs.

“We believe the commencement of a second companion diagnostic program under the master agreement within a short time clearly demonstrates how strongly pharma views the anticipated combination of HTG EdgeSeq technology with QIAGEN’s GeneReader NGS system,” Thierry Bernard, senior vice president and head of the Molecular Diagnostics Business Area at QIAGEN, said in a press release.